Cultural Analysis of Brazil Essay

A key to manage effectively across national and cultural boundaries, which is critical to the success (Browaeys and Price, 2011), lies in the understanding the different means of in various cultures (Trompenaars, 1993). Hence, basic cultural analysis should be conducted to better plan the new manufacturing business unit in Brazil where there are many differences from the Swedish culture. The famous analytic models from Hofstede (1980) and Trompenaars (1993) are applied to identify the key distinct dimensions of the two national cultures in terms of their management implications. Cultural Analysis The most influential factors chosen from Hofstede’s model are PD and UA, with the largest gap in scores and significant differences from table 1. Table 1 Different Scores of Brazil and Sweden in the national cultural dimensions Power DistanceUncertainty AvoidanceIndividualismMasculinity Brazil69763849 Sweden3129715 Source: Hofstede (1980, p315) Firstly, PD refers to the interpersonal power or influence between the powerful member of an organization and the least powerful one (Browaeys and Price, 2011). It, however, reflects the human inequality with a range of aspects, including rewards, wealth, prestige and privileges, etc., in the hierarchies of the organization. Normally, a higher high PD value implies the requirements of a centralised and direct decision-making process rather than plural participations of members in different levels (Velo, 2012). Brazil is, as many as around one time larger in land size and populations of Sweden (Findthedata, 2012), which contribute to the centralisation trends of organisations. Meanwhile, the large PD of Brazil means inequalities of power and wealth are however likely tolerated (Stephen, 2006) since the resources are concentrated. For instance, Azevedo (2009) concluded that most companies from Sà £o Paulo Stock Exchange has strong power concentration characteristics in terms of fact t hat most controlling shareholders or their relatives hold or chaired CEO positions. However, Brazil also suffers from, in return,  burdensome bureaucracy and deep social imbalances (James, 2011). Reversely, Sweden companies are more democracy, less hierarchical and even, for employee able to make comment to their managers (Porter, 2006). Secondly, the UA represents the degree to which a culture prefers risky, flexible and new situations over conversational, rigid and regular status (Browaeys and Price, 2011). UA, as Hofstede (1980) noted, indeed suggests, uncertainty about the future and cope with it through technology, law and religion. Commonly, a high UA scores means the national residents are unlike to do risky things and try to avoid changes (Velo, 2012), which directs the activities in working are supposed to be planned with less ambitious and stable employees (Hofstede, 1980). The managers are expected to be more task-oriented and involved in more details to control, if not eliminate, the uncertainty in work (Hofstede, 1980). Oppositely, Sweden companies are high possibile to have adverse attitude towards risk with different attributes in management (Porter, 2006). Predominantly Catholic population in Brazil reinforces the philosophy of the existence of an absolute ‘Truth’, that those individuals, thereby, should make efforts to lower this level of uncertainty (Vincent, 2003). Instead, in order to prevent the unexpected, the ultimate goal of this society is to control everything by means with adopted and implemented strict rules, laws, policies, and regulations (Stephen, 2006). Brazil companies are operating under a highly complex and expensive tax with a regulatory environment (James, 2011) aimed at reducing uncertainty in business circumstances. Also, Brazilian companies are showing growing interests in implementing modern enterprise risk management techniques (Ernst & Young, 2012). In comparison, the Sweden companies are welcome the relaxed atmosphere in which managers are interpersonal and strategy centred and flexible in style whereas employees are ambitious with high turnover probability (Hofstede, 1980; Porter, 2006). The most vital factor taken from Trompenaars’ framework is individualism versus collectivism, which means people in certain culture are oriented to the self or common goals and objectives (Browaeys and Price, 2011). These two elements affects the international management in negotiation, decision-making and motivation and are often related to religions (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1997). Catholics are likely to do group work while Protestants rely more on themselves. Brazil is a typical  collectivist community that places family at the center of its social system and depend heavily on relationships (Malinak 2012). Accordingly, Brazilians are of loyalty and duty to their group, especially within their extended families (James, 2011). The firms are anticipated to care employees like family member. For example, a job are considered when it includes mandatorily paid vacations, Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Servià §o, at least one meal for employees working eight hours and the 13th salary (Novais 2012). Sweden companies are generally quite different. The common Swedish word â€Å"lagom† are used to inform the importance of one’s own performances in workplace (Porter, 2006). MOST IMPORTANT DIMENSION IN THIS CONTEXT Among all the dimensions in these two models, individualism should be the most important one that calls for intensified attention when setting up a new manufacturing business unit in Brazil. From a theoretical level, individualism is contained in both Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ model and is suggested by some scholars (e.g., Dunnette & Hough, 1990) as the essential dimension to analyse culture. Because a large number of studies have proved the impact of individualism on the behaviour of members belong to a social group (e.g., Smith & Bond, 1999; Ashmos & McDaniel, 1996). Moreover, individualism usually has impact on some other dimensions in the models. For instance, people belong to collectivist culture and individualist culture is suitable to different motivation method (Hofstede, 1980). In this case, the most significant reason is the big gap between Sweden and Brazil in individualism. Just as mentioned above, Brazil gets 38 points while Sweden scores 71 in Hofstedeâ €™s analysis (Hofstede, 1980). In Sweden culture, individuals usually are regarded as the end achieved by the improvements of communal arrangements (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1994). On the contrary, groups are regarded as end in Brazil culture achieved by the improvements of individual abilities (Hofstede, 1980). It can be reflected by the splendent performance of group sports in Brazil such as soccer (Wikipedia, 2012). The difference in individualism would lead to various factors that require more attention in management. Organizational structure usually takes the brunt of this change. People in Brazil would prefer group work rather than individual work. The group leader or the older and powerful member of a group is expected to offer help to younger colleagues (Hofstede, 1980). It also leads  to the changes in reward system. Since people in Brazil often motivated by group interests rather than their own, it would be better to set group goals and reward members on the basis of the group achievements. Decision making process is another significant different caused by individualism. In Sweden, people view themselves as being empowered to make the decisions needed to meet one’s own goals thus the decision making is very quickly. When it comes to group decisions, voting is a common method. However, Brazilians sometimes would give up their personal interests to collective interests thus decisions usually are not based on democratic voting (O’Keefe, 2004). Moreover, Brazil people are usually integrated into strong, cohesive groups thus they attach great importance to relationships. Businessmen should pay more attention to develop good relationships to their potential distributors and government officials. Senior manager should spend as more time as possible with chatting and making jokes. Similarly, making a call or talking to someone in person is preferred to writing e-mails. To sum up, the big gap between Sweden and Brazil in individualism demonstrates that it is the essential dimension to analyse culture as it would lead to various difference in organization structure, decision making process and the importance of relationships. Thus, from both theoretical and practical level, individualism is the most important dimension in this case. CONCLUSION In conclusion, there are several significant cultural gaps between Sweden and Brazil including power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, neutral versus emotional and attitudes to the environments. Individualism comes out to be the most important dimension because of the considerable gap between the two countries in their attitudes towards collective interests and personal honour. And this difference would have a significant impact on transnational management. Thus, the management method should be sharpened in order to consider them when extending business in emerging economies of Brazil. This allows to avoid misunderstandings caused by cultural reasons and to improve the efficiency of management and communication in new manufacturing business unit. References Ashmos, D.P. & McDaniel, R.R. (1996) Understanding the Participation of Critical Task Specialists in Strategic Decision Making*. Decision Sciences. [Online] 27 (1), 103–121. Available from: doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1996.tb00845.x. Azevedo, S. M. G. (2009). Os papà ©is do Conselho de Administraà §Ãƒ £o em empresas listadas no Brasil. Master’s Dissertation, Faculdade de Economia, Administraà §Ãƒ £o e Contabilidade, University of Sà £o Paulo, Sà £o Paulo. Retrieved 2012-11-03, from http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12139/tde-11092009-141955/ Browaeys, M-J and Price, R, (2011) Understanding Cross-Cultural Management (2nd Ed.), Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Dunnette, M. & Hough, L. (1990) Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. 2nd edition. Palo Alto, Consulting Psychologists Press. Ernst & Young (2012). Risk-based capital and governance in Latin America: Emerging regulations (Report). London: Ernst & Young Global Limit. Findthedata (2012). [Online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Hampden-Turner, C. & Trompenaars, A. (1994) Seven cultures of capitalism†¯: value systems for creating wealth in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. London, Piatkus. Hofstede, G.H. (1980) Cultures consequences†¯: international differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills†¯; London, Sage. James G. (2011). Business Basics in Brazil, Big opportunities, challenges go hand in hand. Journal of Accountancy [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Malinak C. (2012). Doing Business in Brazil (report). London: Communicaid Group Ltd. Novais Andrà ©a (2012). Common Benefits in Brazil. The Brazil Business [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. O’Keefe, H. and O’Keefe, W.,M., (2004) Business behaviors in Brazil and the USA: Understanding the gaps. International Journal of Social Economics, 31(5), pp. 614-622. Porter A. (2006). ‘Taking care of business in Sweden’. Sweden.se [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Smith, P.B. & Bond, M.H. (1999) Social psychology across cultures. 2nd ed. Boston, Mass, Allyn & Bacon. Stephen T. (2006). ‘Geert Hofstede Analysis for Brazil’. Cyborlink [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Trompenaars F. and Hampden-Turner C. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business (2nd ed). London: Nicholas Brealey. Velo, V. (2012). Cross-cultural management. New York, Business Expert Press. Vincent, J. S. (2003). Culture and customs of Brazil. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Wikipedia (2012) Brazil national football team – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. . [Online]. 2012. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_national_football_team [Accessed: 3 November 2012].

Negative Effects of Technology on Human Life

Negative effects of technology Improvements in the technology have antagonistic effects on the human life along with the positive effects. The growth of the technology leads to very severe problems like pollution, unemployment, effects social life of the humans etc.. First of all, the most serious problem is pollution, which is created by the technological inventions like vehicles, industries, etc.. Now-a-days the vehicles like cars, bikes are increasing which is leading to increase in pollution. The other problem is radiation caused by the increase in the mobile phones.Secondly, in most of the developing countries like India the major problem is unemployment. This problem is mostly caused by the increase in the instruments, which are the results of improvement in the technology. Finally, in today’s world all the people are getting addicted to the internet like social sites, games and they also becoming victims of the google. For example, all the persons are getting involved i n the facebook and they are not at all bothering about the surrounding world, this may leading them away from the social life and sometimes it also creates problems in the families.The other example, everyone in this world is depending on google for each and everything and they are not at all referring to the books. However, most of the people say that improvements in technology like software solutions creates employment, but that is not true because the employment created by the software field is less than the employments which is decreased by the instruments in industries. In conclusion, the negative effects of the technology is higher than the advantages from the improvements in technology.

Social Security U6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Social Security U6 - Essay Example That makes people stop and say, â€Å"This is a dangerous idea!† Nevertheless, it is clear that the stock market has by now recovered all of the money that it lost during the Great Recession. We need to change peoples' attitudes. Instead of telling them they will be set for life, we need to ensure that they are more responsible for their post-retirement income. Social security is not a constitutional right, and it will not even exist if we do not engage in a number of serious reforms as quickly as possible. If we don't do this as soon as possible, there will be no money left for me or for my children. We will have bankrupted America. All real wealth is generated in the private sector, so it makes sense to turn to the private sector to secure the post-retirement wealth of our seniors. Investing social security money in the stock market can yield major returns and give more control over to our most precious resource: our senior citizens. Brown, Jeffrey R., Jeffrey B. Liebman, an d David A. Wise. Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment. University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Identification of People with Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Identification of People with Diabetes - Essay Example Beckett, Peters, and Fletcher (2008) and Huang, Zhang, Gandra (2008) affirm that diabetes has been a challenge since 2001, when the NSF for diabetes set out its visions that aimed at empowering patients with diabetes and lay a framework or a foundation, which helps them become the major caregivers. Furman (2014) confirms that there have been several demonstrable improvements in the way services are delivered since the beginning of the delivery plan of 2003. The December, 2001 Diabetes Standards (DH 2001) is of great service of excellence, and they are built on a firm partnership with diabetes individuals (Buck, Wilson, and Ham 2005). Individuals with diabetes should expect greater and better services as these NSF standards are offered locally. Zhang, Gandra (2008)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Department of Health, DH, has implemented effective interventions and good practices such as recommending the use of principal interventions such as personalized care mode ls, structured education models, accessible records or patient-held records that will help facilitate the empowerment of these individuals (Egede, Nietert, and Zheng 2005). However, the services rendered are geographically variable, and there are increased numbers of people that have diabetes and still do not access to the established care standards (Newport and Hirsch 2011). Between 2006 and 2011 the diagnosed number of people living with diabetes in England increased by twenty five percent, from 1.9 million people to 2.5 million (Furman 2014).

How did Karl Marx view America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How did Karl Marx view America - Essay Example The USA during the life of Karl Marx was a rapidly developing capitalist country, but social antagonisms were not as clear in the USA as they were in the UK during the life of Karl Marx. But in general the views of Marx about Great Britain and the USA are the same, as the last one turned into economical giant and the strongest economy of the world already at the beginning of the twentieth century. American society based on democratic values and free market relations is a classic capitalist society according to Karl Marx. America's one of the fundamental values is a property right, and protection of private property is one of the central goals of the USA system. Marx made an excellent job in studying the origins of the state, family, private property, the evolution of social relations and social formations. He brilliantly explained the nature and origins of economical relations from the point of view of political economy. Arguing that capitalist relations were unjust because the producers (workers) didn't have the means of production and had no property rights on the products they were producing because means of production were the property of capitalists and bourgeoisie, Marx made a prediction that capitalist formation will be changed by a new just and fair social formation with no private property- formation of communism. He characterized capitalist relations as follows: "Bourgeois productive relations... That's why bourgeois social formation ends the prehistory of human society."( Marx 1992:21) Marx considered the ruling class to be the class that had the means of production in his property. In his works talking about dominating class he mentioned bourgeoisie, but mainly bankers and industrial magnates. Small business, engineers, teachers, clerks considered to be the class of philistines and were the main support of big bourgeoisie. Oppression was characterized basically by the fact that bourgeoisie had all the essential means of production, capital, power, ideologists, police, judicial system and periodicals. The oppressed class by Karl Marx was proletariat. He didn't rely in the social revolution on peasants as they were considered to be property owners and were more attached to capitalist, market relations as workers, because they had private property. Peasants had some property rights and were defended by law, as they were among the main producers of agricultural goods. The working class got its democratic rights only nominally. In the 1850ies democracy was just developing and it was on the initial stage of the development and it had a form of formal democracy. People who were told that they've got something but in fact had nothing considered they to be out of share, its human psychology. The desire to have the promised rights stimulated unrest in the circles of workers. Liberty, equality and the demand for education rights were the basic demands of workers. Criticizing unjust and unequal conditions of living of workers and bourgeoisie Marx made an assumption that capitalist relations will be replaced once by another form of social and economical

Theory of the five disciplines as a method of change Term Paper

Theory of the five disciplines as a method of change - Term Paper Example Theory of the five disciplines as a method of change A successful change management process is one which benefits the management and defines measure or the stakeholder’s aims, devises an effective education, training or skills upgrading system for the organization, counters the resistance from the employees and aligns them towards the strategic direction of the organization, provides personal counseling to any change related fears (Hayes, 2010).The 10 principles that guidelines the change management is address the human side systematically, it should start at the top, change should involve every layer, make the formal case, create ownership, communicate the message, address culture explicitly , assessing the cultural landscape, speak to the individual and prepare for the unexpected. John Kotter has proposed the 8-step change model for the change management process. The 8-step change model comprises of - Creating urgency , by identifying threats and developing scenarios to forecast what can happen in future to create a sense of u rgency of change, examining opportunities that could be exploited, to start honest discussions and convincing reasons to enable people talking and thinking, request support from the stakeholders to support the argument. Form a powerful coalition, in order to convince people that change is necessary, and bring together a coalition or team of some influential people whose power comes from various sources, the change coalition needs to work as a team to continuously create the need and urgency for change.

Music Contract Negotiations and Publishing Essay

Music Contract Negotiations and Publishing - Essay Example Music publishers have diverse roles such as working on a creative entity with the songwriters in composing of new songs, enforcing as well as protecting copyrights, seeking licensees for the song, entering into arrangements with regard to licensing, and collecting as well as disbursing the income among others. Just as the songwriters, copyright laws, and collecting societies have changed, advancements in technology has changed ways in which music publishers operate. It has led to enlargement of potential sources of profit, making the industry lucrative and at the same time complex (Biederman 2007). Therefore, this essay discusses in length on the role of music publishers, the history as well as the changes in the music publishing industry, and how publishers can realize their future potential. Music publishers play an essential role in ensuring that the career of songwriters is successful. Whether or not songwriters are establishing their name or developing talents, publishers are invaluable to them since they guarantee that they are protected and their songs are not exploited. To some extent, music publishers facilitate earning prospects for songwriters and artists whose professions are not lucrative. Although most of the artists do not have ownership rights, one of the key components in the relationship between publishers and songwriters is the division as far as copyright ownership is concerned. This means that the more services the publisher offers such as licensing and being creative, the more ownership they have. Over the years, music publishers have made tremendous improvement in the music industry. They ensure successful synch licensing, demo recording and exemplary creativity. For instant, the Kobalt music Group is an independent publisher that has advanced techn ological systems that has redefined the industry. Although it does not have ownership of copyrights, it incorporates innovative elements

E-marketing and ICT in private hospitals in the United Kingdom Dissertation

E-marketing and ICT in private hospitals in the United Kingdom - Dissertation Example This research is an exploratory study on the capabilities of ICT by focusing on private hospitals of the UK. Large numbers of consumers are using the internet to extract health-related information. However, it is not known to what extent they effectively use the e-marketing platform of the private hospitals. Thus, with the aim to generate an in-depth view about the role of ICT in the private hospitals of UK, four objectives and two hypotheses were stated in Chapter I. After extensive literature review the theoretical framework was formed. This was a mix of qualitative and quantitative study with both primary and secondary data collection. Secondary data was collected through journals and websites and primary data was collected through survey questionnaires. Both the in-patients and the hospital staff were given the questionnaire. The study focused on one single hospital – The BMI Clementine Churchill Hospital. All the objectives of the study have been met. The first objective was to evaluate the current trends that accelerate the growth of using ICT in private hospitals. Proliferation of the internet technology and ICT, changes in consumer demand, the literacy levels of the consumers, and increase in consumer demand for health care, in addition to intense competition in the health care sector have led to acceleration in the growth of using ICT in private hospitals in the UK. ... Through the website the hospitals generate a large amount of consumer data which can be effectively used for enhancing their marketing efforts. No such evidence has been available through the study. Social media marketing too is not being used by private hospitals to understand consumer needs and wants. The third objective was to investigate the limitations of realising ICT in private hospitals. Their activities are limited to sending emails or offering online bookings. There is nothing to keep the visitors engaged once they visit the website. At the moment the consumer acceptance appears to be limited. Acceptance of technology is an attitudinal change that has to first come in the consumers. Thus, the onus for realising ICT in private hospitals rests with the hospitals as well as with the consumers. The fourth objective was to analyse critical issues surrounding the use of E-marketing in private hospitals. The first and foremost concern is the vast amount of medical information avai lable on the internet which can be misleading. Making online payments is another critical issue that impacts the acceptance of e-marketing. An e-platform can allow anyone to practice as a physician and this can be disastrous for the society. The privacy policies are yet to be addressed by the hospitals. Another critical issue is the concept of social media marketing. While it can help the hospitals to recognize consumer demands and needs it can also adversely impact hospital reputation. Since there is no control over the data posted and stored on the social media platforms, this could impact the reputation of the hospitals. The study concludes

Marketing Mix for U.S.A car market Chery Cars China Essay - 13

Marketing Mix for U.S.A car market Chery Cars China - Essay Example car industry through various aspects of strategic marketing mix. This paper concludes by recommending adaptation marketing mix strategies with specific reference to joint ventures as a key entry strategy for Chery into U.S.A. This paper also recommends â€Å"overdesign, overtest and overservice† of Chery cars as a strategy gain U.S.A. consumers’ confidence in Chinese products. Chery automobile limited, a Chinese car company founded in the year 1997 has gone through tremendous growth and is today one of the biggest car manufacturing company. The car company currently manufactures minivans, 15 different types of passenger cars, as well as commercial vehicles including A5 sedan, V5 crossover and the QQ compact. Chery’s annual car productions and sales stand at 900,000 and 800,000 cars respectively (PR, 2014). The company’s brands include Eastar, Chery and Tiggo which was latest brand launched in 2013 in china. American cultural dimension is dominated by masculinity and individualism and are the important factors driving the U.S. car industry for long time in history. As stated by Ijose (2009 p.4), U.S. car industry is the largest, valuable, and competitive industry of the world posing big threat to three domestic manufacturers Ford, GM and Chrysler. The U.S. Car market shares as per 2009 congressional records are: GM 22.3%, Ford 15.1%, Chrysler 11.0%, Asian brands 44.6% and German brands 6.5% (Cooney, 2009 p.16). Chery’s cars in the United States are totally a different market and the marketing philosophy is polycentric since U.S. is a unique market for cheese cars. The high numbers of products recalls have served major blows to Chinese automotive products’ acceptance in the America. The masculinity and individualism culture of the market calls for geocentric philosophy s an approach to design of Chery’s cars for the U.S. market. Lin Zhang acknowledges that "No question, the U.S. is the most

Young Goodman Brown Essay Example for Free

Young Goodman Brown Essay The theme of change and transformation preoccupies the minds of writers through the centuries. They use a change as a technique in order to illustrate transformations of the characters. Both, Raymond Carver and Alice Walker turn to the theme of change in their works but they do it in a different way. Two stories, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† approach the theme of change from different perspectives. Alice Walker depicts the way the notion of the hereditary is changed for different generations. She shows how young girl, who leaves her native place for a big city gradually changes and how her perception of her origin and hereditary changes accordingly. In this story two ideologies, presented by Dee and her mother, clash. The author depicts how traditional attitude to the family values and customs, represented by Dee’s mother, is opposed to Dee, who presents a new vision of the history, conditioned by the liberation movement. Dee’s mother does not change and represents the spirit of all generations, who stand behind her. She follows her path and can not accept new attitudes brought by Dee from the big city. Dee does not loose her ties with her native land and her hereditary when she leaves her parents’ house. She only gets new perception of them. Dee changes a lot and her attitudes changes accordingly. Visiting her home, she asks her mother to hang the quilt on the wall in order to manifest her attitude to the history of her people. Her attitude changes dramatically because she did not want to take the same quilt with her when she was leaving her home several years ago. Her mother does not want the changes to occur. She treats the quilt as an element for everyday use. As she states, â€Å"God knows I been saving `em for long enough with nobody using `em. I hope [Maggie] will put them to everyday use! † (Walker, 16). Despite we can see that the mother and her daughter have very different ideas about the ways the memories about their origins should be kept, we still can not reject the fact that they both care about this past. Dee has another vision and her vision reflects the spirit of the epoch and new attitudes brought by the changes in the mentality. Young Goodman Brown was written in the year 1835 by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story brightly depicts the Puritan society of the seventeenth century. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s style is ambiguous; he doesn’t transmit his message directly. The most mysterious event in the story is Goodman Brown’s journey to the night wood. This journey completely transforms Brown’s personality because in the forest he meets with the dark side of his personality. The Black Mess in the dark forest points not only to the hypocrisy of the society and religious authorities but also to the dark part of the personality. It’s his own hidden dark side, which Goodman meets in the forest. Once the listener fancied that he could distinguish the accents of towns-people of his own, men and women, both pious and ungodly, many of whom he had met at the communion table, and had seen others rioting at the tavern† (Hawthorne, 114). The author uses the Black Mess to show the part of personality people try to hide not only from others, but also from themselves. New knowledge, which Goodman Brown achieves in the forest will change his perception of himself and other people forever. The changes, which occur to Dee in the Walker’s story reflect her true attitude to the reality and most probably will last for a long time. Works Cited Walker, Alice, In Love and Trouble, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, inc, 1973. Shuffelton, Frank. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Revival Movement. † The American Transcendental Quarterly 44, 1979. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown, 1992 Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Perrines Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Comp. Thomas R. Arp. New York: Harcourt Brace College, 1994.

Causes of Occupational Stress

Causes of Occupational Stress Occupational stress can be referred to the physical pressure such as weary as well as body pain (Beehr et al., 2001) ( cited in Nazim Shahid Jan, n.d., p.292) and mentally pressure such as weary, anxiety, depression, insomnia, incurred by oneself occupation or job (Millward, 2005) ( cited in Nazim Shahid Jan, n.d., p.292). There are two types of stress, which are eustress and distress. Eustress, is a positive stress, can motive one to achieve oneself goals whereas distress negatively influences oneself behavior, physical and mental condition (Mcshane, Olekalns Travaglione 2010, p. 139). In fact, there are a number of factors which cause occupational stress. Firstly, employees usually feel pressured when there are overload work tasks to be completed by them (Swaminathan Rajkumar, 2013, p.86). For instance, when an employer distributes a number of difficult tasks to his or her employee to be completed within a short period of time, the employee will usually feel stressed due to the fact that completing the task within a short period of time is beyond the employee’s capability. This can be related to MARS Model where Motivation, Ability, Role perception and Situational factors are considered (Mcshane, Olekalns Travaglione 2010, p. 46-49). The employee may have the motivation and ability as well as a good role perception to perform his or her task, but due to situational factor such as limited time, he or she will feel stressed. For instance, in most of the secondary school, a teacher is responsible for teaching many subjects and the overload work task will definitely make the teacher feel stressed (It takes two: how schools are in vesting in staff teaching additional subjects 2013). Besides, the relationship among employees or between employees and employers also contributes to occupational stress (Causes of work-related stress 2009). This problem commonly happens when a new employee enters into a new job or position. He or she may not be able to get used to the new environment, especially the relationship with new colleagues. New employees will usually feel ignored by his or her colleagues and this problem makes them feel depressed (Common causes of stress at work n.d.). Very often, new employees will also have problem in communicating with new colleagues because of incomprehension of personality to each other (Mcshane, Olekalns Travaglione 2010, p. 345). In Model of Communication, communication barriers are the obstacles, which include perception, filtering, language and excessive information that disturb communication among people (Mcshane, Olekalns Travaglione 2010, p.356-358). For instance, sometimes when new colleagues make fun of a new employee such as kidding with the new employee, the new employee may convert the message received in a wrong way due to his or her perception, different language spoken, excessive information received and so on, in which the employee will think that the new colleagues are trying to insult him or her. Moreover, some employees, who do not have a good communication and relationship with their superiors or employees, are even bullied and suffer from harassment such as sexual harassment by their superior and end up feeling pressured (Tehrani 2002) (cited in Ongori Agolla 2008, p.124). The employees or victims are unable to communicate well or feel shy to communicate with people in a company will usually be the target of bullying by their superiors or colleagues. For example, in Nike company, there is a number of employees has suffered from insult and sexual harassment by their superiors (Nike workers suffer harassment, claims report 2001). Consequently, these victims will end up suffering from stress or feel very pressured whenever they work in their workplace. Job insecurity is also not an exception to be one of the main factors contributing to occupational stress and thus reducing the productivity of employees (Babatunde 2013, p.76). In the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the most important need of human is physiological, followed by security such as job security, socialization, esteem and self-actualization (Mcshane, Olekalns Travaglione 2010, p. 170-171). It is, therefore, clear that job security is necessary for a person. This problem worrying about job insecurity is most commonly faced by employees who are in debts, confront financial liability and difficulties. These employees are usually worried about the problem of unemployment that may occur on them in the future as their current job is very important for them for shouldering certain liabilities or responsibilities such as raising a family. In fact, the problem of employee’s dismissal commonly happens during economic recession, in which the economic is under a bad cond ition (Sandilands n.d.). Therefore, employees’ worries about dismissal usually arise during economic recession. Due to the fact that most of the companies have insufficient revenue to cover their expenses, the companies therefore dismiss some the employees who are not productive in order to reduce their expenses (Windermere n.d.). For example, Nike has planned to dismiss about 1750 workers in order to reduce its expenses by $225 million (Rogoway 2009). Not only that, some of the employees is also worried that their salaries will get deducted as well as being treated unfairly. For instance, the majority of the employees in United Kingdom are most worried about the problem of their salaries reduction, followed by the problem of being unemployed and treated unfairly (Osborne 2013). Therefore, job insecurity is truly undeniable to be one of the major factors which may lead to the occupational stress (Unemployment ‘can lead to depression’ 2011). In actual fact, occupational stress has indeed brought advantages to employees. One of the most common advantages is that a low level of occupational stress can help to improve the working performance of an employee. When an employee has suffered from stress such as a reasonable work submission deadline, he or she will be more initiated or committed to try the very best to complete a task or come out with a well-done output. For example, after Apple company has released its new smartphone, iPhone 5S, Samsung Company then declares that it will also come out with its new smartphone product, Samsung Galaxy S5 which also has the same level of processor (The Fierce Competition Between Samsung And Apple is Still Ongoing n.d.). It is clearly shown that stress has actually motivated Samsung company’s employees to create come out with a good way to compete with Apple Company. Occupational stress, on the other hand, does also incur a number of negative impacts. The typical disadvantage is that occupational stress may harm oneself health condition in term of physical and mental. It is commonly known the symptoms of being overstressed are headache, insomnia, high blood pressure and so on (Hamlett n.d.). In fact, these symptoms also implies that oneself suffer the risk of health problems. If the overstressed issue persists, the employee will get sick and end up reducing his or her productivity. Not only that, the employee will also be unable to fully concentrate on performing his or her tasks as he or she will be distracted by worries at most of the time (Hamlett n.d.). In addition, the issue of occupational stress harming employees’ mental health condition is now increasing at an alarming rate. The mental illness or stress suffered will get serious if it is not cured as soon as possible and will end up causing fatal to the patient such as committing s uicide (Omelas Kleiner 2003) (cited in Ablanedos-Rosas et al. 2011, p. 555). For example, a nurse in Britain committed suicide due to the vicious slander brought by his patient (Work Suicide n.d.). In order to reduce stress temporarily, many people choose to smoke and end up addicted to smoking (Smoking and Mental Health n.d.), consequently increasing the chances of getting lung cancer (Lung cancer risks and causes n.d.). In other words, occupational stress has indirectly led some of the employees to the risk of getting lung cancer. In addition, if the level of an employee’s stress is too high and beyond the capabilities of the employee to control it, adverse effects such as frustration or anxiety may occur and will subsequently lead to a low productivity (Cevizci et al. 2014, p.42). Path-goal theory comprises of four types of leadership style, which are directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented (Mcshane, Olekalns Travaglione 2010, p. 464). The leader of a company should be supportive and considerate to his or her employee. ASA theory consists of 3 ways, which are attraction, selection and attrition. Attraction is that a person is attracted by the culture of a company as the culture company is his or her preferred culture. Selection is that a company selects workers which are able to adapt the culture of the company. Attrition is that a company dismisses the workers who does not adapt to the culture of the company (Mcshane, Olekalns Travaglione 2010, p. 555-556). ASA theory can be us ed to reduce or avoid stress of employees through allowing workers to choose company which are suitable to them, selecting people who can work under stress and dismissing employees who are unable to meet company’s target.

Essay --

pH is usually referred to test out or find the measure of a concentration of hydrogen ions. pH is used to measure whether the solution if it is a base or an acid. The term pH stands for power of hydrogen. Usually there is a scale for measuring pH, Solution with a 7 or below is consider an acidic solution, but an pH greater than 7 is consider a base solution, and 7 is a neutral solution. The pH scale is a set of solution standards whose pH is established by the international system. Most of the times pH can be measured through concentration cells which measure the differences between hydrogen electrodes. Finding the pH for solution can be done in various ways such as a pH meter or glass electrode. White vinegar can also be some sort of fluid composed mainly involving acetic p in addition to drinking water. The actual acetic p will be made because of the fermentation involving booze simply by acetic p germs. White vinegar will be currently mainly utilized as a change involving express element, although in the past, on account of this primarily basically on the market delicate p, it acquired a considerable model of manufacturing, health-related, in addition to household uses, selection of that location unit even now endorsed these days. Small business white vinegar will be made possibly simply by rapid as well as slow fermentation functions. In general, slow ways that they location unit in combination with old vinegars in addition to fermentation matter gradually over weeks or possibly a season. The actual extended fermentation amount permits for your buildup of the nontoxic slime made up of acetic p germs. rapid ways that they add mother involving white vinegar on the availabi lity fluid just before adding atmosphere utilizing a en... ...inging about hyperbolic runoff. That runoff drinking water makes this succeeding blend extra acidic. Regarding 50 percent the acidity inside the atmosphere falls to earth through dry deposit. Some kinds can accept acidic waters more than others. polluting of the environment impacts many species ultimately impacts additional through the entire organic phenomenon combined with non-aquatic kinds like parrots. The penalties of smog, combined together with different ecological stressors, depart trees in addition to plants unripe to be able to confront to be able to cold conditions, insects, in addition to illness. The pollutants could on top of that inhibit trees ability to breed. Some soil square gauge higher capable of neutralize acids than others. In areas the spot that the soil streaming capability will be low, this harmful outcomes of smog square gauge plenty added.

America In The Popular Imagination :: essays research papers

Twenty-one years ago, a spectacular film was made by an incredible director of the highly acclaimed film, "Badlands". The movie, "Days of Heaven" directed by Terrence Malick is a movie that shows the confusion of one woman, trying to figure out whom she loves. The movie stars Richard Gere as Bill and Sam Shepard as a rich, handsome, Texan farmer, the two men Brooke Adams as Abby falls in love with. Linda Manz plays Linda, Bill's sister and the narrator, in the story.Terrence Malick was born in Waco, Texas, which probably influenced him to make his first two films, "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven". Both share a theme of pariahs in the mid American wilderness, who are on the run from the law.The late seventies and early eighties were about getting ahead, however you could, no matter whom you had to step on, never worrying that you could get caught. This is reflected when Bill wants Abby to pretend that she is in love with the farmer. When Abby marries the farmer, Bill and Linda move in with them. Linda says "The rich got it all figured out". She means that when she was poor, she was considered replaceable and unimportant. When working in the fields, she says "If you don't work, they'll ship you right out of there; they don't need you; they can always find someone else." As a rich person, and a part of the upper class, she has fun with her life, and doesn't worry about what is going on."Days of Heaven" is about getting into a higher class. It starts when Bill punches his boss and needs to get a new job. He, his younger sister, Linda, and his lover, Abby, become sharecroppers on a farm in Texas, owned by a handsome young man. Bill and Abby pretend to be brother and sister, because they don't want people to know. Linda says "They told everyone they were brother and sister... You know how people are... you tell them something, they start talking". Bill is accused by a fellow sharecropper of being to close with his "sister" and they got into a fight because Bill was very defensive about that. Linda makes a friend with an older woman on the farm and they play in the fields. Bill overhears a doctor diagnose the handsome young farmer with a disease and one year to live.

Policy Tools

Command and control regulation as defined by Michael Raegan(1987) is â€Å"a process or activity in which government requires or prescribes certain activities or behavior on the part of individuals or institutions, mostly private but sometimes public, and does so through a continuing administrative process, generally through specially designated regulatory agencies†.There is a history of command and control regulation as a policy instrument of the government in Trinidad and Tobago as evidenced by its placement in 2013 and 2014 budget in relation to the gaming ndustry. The gaming industry in Trinidad and Tobago is an illegal one, which operates without government regulation. As stated in the 2013 budget Minister Howai â€Å"Mr. Speaker we intend to bring the gaming industry under more effective control and capture more fully the revenue that can accrue to the Treasury. The Gaming Industry offers a legitimate form of entertainment if it is properly regulated. It was proposed th at effective May 2013 a series of regulations would be put into place to manage the industry until the comprehensive framework and control body was established. In the 2014 budget Minister Howai acknowledged that previous stated policy had not been fully implemented but that vital steps were underway, which included extensive consultations with various stakeholder bodies. According to Finance Minister, the Honorable Larry Howai, a comprehensive governance structure for the industry was developed over the last year.It will entail the establishment of a Regulatory Commission with the power to license premises, operators, suppliers and key employees. The new legislation will control the operations of what will be referred to as registered casinos. The primary advantage of command and control regulation towards the gaming industry in Trinidad and Tobago is that being an illegal practice (aside from pool betting halls), government has the legislative upper hand to determine what is to be regulated and how.Mitnick (1980) explains that a government need not know in advance its subjects preferences as in the case of voluntary instruments and little information is needed to establish the regulation as a result. Government can simply establish a standard and expect compliance (Howlett and Ramesh 2009) making it a highly cost and time efficient tool. Secondly regulation in itself allows for better co-ordination of government efforts and planning because of the predictability it entails (Howlett and Ramesh 2009).This is tied to the directness and specificity of the nature of command and control regulation. This predictability and directness of the regulation makes it easier and more suitable of an instrument in times of crisis or when an immediate response is needed, as noted by the Minister that the gaming industry is substantial and growing industry with the high prevalence to criminal activity and social ills thus immediate action needs to be aken to arrest the issue b efore it spirals, while reaping the benefits of increasing revenue at the same time.Command and control regulation is also more cost efficient than other instruments as well as publicly and politically appealing government's part† (Howlett and Ramesh 2009) Although command and control regulation is cost effective especially when compared to other instruments it is still quite costly, as the cost of enforcement by regulatory bodies may be high due to further costs of information, investigation and prosecution which make the policy legalistic and adversarial(Hahn and Hind 1991).Another issue with command and control in the context of the gaming industry in Trinidad and Tobago is that the very nature of the industry is problematic. Private members' clubs, slot machines etcetera which constitute the industry are all illegal activities that have been allowed to flourish without regulation, thus the administration of the regulatory framework is problematic as it needs to gain legiti macy and acceptance by an illegitimate structure.There has to be total co-operation on the part of all members of the gaming industry in order for regulation to be effective and adhered to. Dyerson and Mueller (1993) also state that regulation is often inflexible and does not offer consideration for individual circumstances, thus a one size fits all regulation of casinos, private members clubs etc does not take into account the size and profitability or extent of gambling taking place.This may lead to incompliance with the regulatory structure and undermining of the very framework government is trying to cement. A mixed approach to regulation could be used, a good example of which is self regulation, which would be more cost effective as government would not ave to foot the cost of â€Å"creation, administration and renewal of standards† (Howlett and Ramesh).However there is a tossup as to how effective and favorable alternative methods really are when one considers the socia l costs of ineffective or inefficient administration of voluntary standards, especially those related to non-compliance (Gibson 1994 and Karamanos 2001) The overall usefulness of this policy tool cannot be fully assessed as it has not been fully implemented and remains largely at the drawing board. This perhaps is a sign of its ineffectiveness and inability to meet the goals of the government.

Listo Systems

Listo Systems is a graphic service agency with a long history of success. In the early 1990s, the company quickly grew into one of the top graphic service companies in the world. The rapid growth of technology in recent years has both helped and hindered the company. Advancements in technology have allowed Listo Systems to provide quality services and products faster and more efficiently. However, new technology has also been beneficial for Listo Systems’ competitors. The competition has grown significantly in number and in the quality of services and products that they provide.The increase in technology has also led to an increase in customer demands and expectations. Customers want services and products faster and cheaper and will go to a competitor without hesitation if their needs are not met. The advancements in technology have also created new threats to the industry in terms of security and theft of products. Answer the following questions by applying the concepts learn ed in Chapter 1. Also, conduct literature reviews on the subject of discussion and use to support your case study answers:How has Listo Systems felt the impact of power shifting from the Seller to the Buyer? Ignorance of customer behavior is the greatest strategic risk facing businesses today. Every day they vote with their time, with their word of mouth, with their money and with their allegiance, for the business designs that best serve their evolving priorities. The results of their shifting decisions are value creation and value destruction. Customers determine profits. In many markets, not all customers are profitable.An examination of true pricing and the true costs of serving customers may reveal that a company is actually losing money on many customer accounts. The shift from â€Å"all customers are profitable† to â€Å"many are not† has been triggered by declining gross margins and increasing variability in the cost to serve customers. Suppliers will be reward ed for being much more rigorous in: 1. Measuring current and potential profit customer by customer 2. Selecting the promising customers, and 3. Choosing how much to invest in those customers. Customer profitability is a relative concept.When a firm's capacity utilization is low, even a â€Å"bad† customer is valued because the incremental volume helps to cover fixed costs — in the short term. For the long term, however, the fundamental issue remains: either replace the â€Å"bad† customers with good ones, or reduce capacity, or do both. The key to reversing this downward spiral into unprofitability is the ability to continuously re-segment the customer base. A customer profitability system can reverse the process and enable a company to exploit profit shifts to its advantage.By developing an accurate and dynamic model of how profitability varies at the individual customer level, a company can select and develop strategic customers who yield the greatest long-ter m value. The distribution of power between sellers and buyers influences every negotiation or transaction and profoundly influences the allocation of profits and value. Significant power imbalances can translate quickly along the value chain. Several factors can trigger the power shift pattern: 1. Customer consolidation 2.The formation of professional purchasing groups that bring tremendous expertise to the purchasing process 3. An overabundance of information on suppliers' costs and performance 4. Suppliers' lack of differentiation in either the products offered or the business models used to serve customers. When a company's customers have gained the upper hand, there are a few options available: 1. Out-concentrate the customers. If key customers are more consolidated than you, then consolidate back, merging to ensure that customers can't do without your portfolio. 2.Change the offer, change the customer. 3. Leapfrog the customer. Companies can vault past their customers via a str ong end-user brand, direct channel initiatives and innovative strategies to minimize their current customers' response. 4. Become the customer. The most radical move of all is to buy your largest customer. To generate value, make this move just before power starts shifting to customers, not after it has progressed. Purchasing of a distribution channel lets you join rather than fight the rise in customer power. 2. What external environmental factors are affecting Listo Systems?External environment consists of forces that directly or indirectly influence organization’s business activities. The actors and forces outside marketing that affect management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationship with target customers. Changes are often quick and unpredictable and offers both opportunities and threats Company must use its research and marketing intelligence systems to monitor the changing environment. Systematic environmental scanning helps Listo System to revi se and adapt business strategies to meet new challenges and opportunities in the marketplace.Technology can reduce costs, improve quality and lead to innovation. These developments can benefit consumers as well as the organizations providing the products. Every company faces a wide range of competitors and Listo System is also not apart from this fact. Listo System must secure a strategic advantage over competitors by positioning their offerings to be successful in the marketplace. A PESTLE analysis for Listo must consider all the important external factors impacting on the company. These factors may have political, economic, sociological, technological, legal or environmental dimensions.The political analysis must include the impact of local and national government, and the international situation. The Economic analysis needs to investigate the influences of the stock market and tax increases, amongst many other monetary matters. Sociological analysis is all about analyzing the bac kground culture. Technological factors are usually easier to spot, because new technologies involve change, and change is always noticed. For instance, online shopping has had a major impact on Listo's recent success.The change created by technological advances often lead to legal problems, which is why legal analysis is always an important part of a PESTLE analysis. Listo's operations obviously have a significant environmental impact, from fossil fuel use to packaging issues. Reducing the demand on the planet is a challenge for any big company. A PESTLE Analysis for Listo must look at all the six factors we have mentioned. Here they are again, with examples of each: Political: an increase in unemployment due to a downward turn in the world economy.Economic: impact on sales of the credit crunch. Sociological: an increase in immigration from Eastern Europe resulting in a demand for new goods. Technological: how can Listo take full advantage of the World Wide Web? Legal: how can Listo avoid legal opposition to expanding into new high streets? Environmental: – climate change is affecting supply and transport, how can Listo adapt? In summary, any PESTLE Analysis for Listo must consider all external factors if it has any hope of capturing the essence of the company. Listo Systems Listo Systems is a graphic service agency with a long history of success. In the early 1990s, the company quickly grew into one of the top graphic service companies in the world.The rapid growth of technology in recent years has both helped and hindered the company. Advancements in technology have allowed Listo Systems to provide quality services and products faster and more efficiently. However, new technology has also been beneficial for Listo Systems’ competitors. The competition has grown significantly in number and in the quality of services and products that they provide.The increase in technology has also led to an increase in customer demands and expectations. Customers want services and products faster and cheaper and will go to a competitor without hesitation if their needs are not met. The advancements in technology have also created new threats to the industry in terms of security and theft of products.Answer the following questions by applying the concepts learned in Chapter 1. Also, conduct literature reviews on the subject of discussion and use to support your case study answers: 1. How has Listo Systems felt the impact of power shifting from the Seller to the Buyer? Ignorance of customer behavior is the greatest strategic risk facing businesses today. Every day they vote with their time, with their word of mouth, with their money and with their allegiance, for the business designs that best serve their evolving priorities. The results of their shifting decisions are value creation and value destruction. Customers determine profits.In many markets, not all customers are profitable. An examination of true pricing and the true costs of serving customers may reveal that a company is actually losing money on many customer accounts. The shift from â€Å"all customers are profitable† to â€Å"many are not† has been triggered by declining gross margins and increasing variability in the cost to serve customers. Suppliers will be rewa rded for being much more rigorous in: 1.Measuring current and potential profit customer by customer 2.Selecting the promising customers, and3.Choosing how much to invest in those customers.Customer profitability is a relative concept. When a firm's capacity utilization is low, even a â€Å"bad† customer is valued because the incremental volume helps to cover fixed costs — in the short term. For the long term, however, the fundamental issue remains: either replace the â€Å"bad† customers with good ones, or reduce capacity, or do both. The key to reversing this downward spiral into unprofitability is the ability to continuously re-segment the customer base.A customer profitability system can reverse the process and enable a company to exploit profit shifts to its advantage. By developing an accurate and dynamic model of how profitability varies at the individual customer level, a company can select and develop strategic customers who yield the greatest long-term value. The distribution of power between sellers and buyers influences every negotiation or transaction and profoundly influences the allocation of profits and value. Significant power imbalances can translate quickly along the value chain. Several factors can trigger the power shift pattern:1. Customer consolidation2. The formation of professional purchasing groups that bring tremendous expertise to the purchasing process3. An overabundance of information on suppliers' costs and performance4. Suppliers' lack of differentiation in either the products offered or the business models used to serve customers.When a company's customers have gained the upper hand, there are a few options available: 1. Out-concentrate the customers. If key customers are more consolidated than you, then consolidate back, merging to ensure that customers can't do without your portfolio. 2. Change the offer, change the customer.3. Leapfrog the customer. Companies can vault past their customers via a strong en d-user brand, direct channel initiatives and innovative strategies to minimize their current customers' response. 4. Become the customer. The most radical move of all is to buy your largest customer. To generate value, make this move just before power starts shifting to customers, not after it has progressed. Purchasing of a distribution channel lets you join rather than fight the rise in customer power.2. What external environmental factors are affecting Listo Systems? External environment consists of forces that directly or indirectly influence organization’s business activities. The actors and forces outside marketing that affect management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationship with target customers. Changes are often quick and unpredictable and offers both opportunities and threats Company must use its research and marketing intelligence systems to monitor the changing environment.Systematic environmental scanning helps Listo System to revise and adapt business strategies to meet new challenges and opportunities in the marketplace. Technology can reduce costs, improve quality and lead to innovation. These developments can benefit consumers as well as the organizations providing the products. Every company faces a wide range of competitors and Listo System is also not apart from this fact. Listo System must secure a strategic advantage over competitors by positioning their offerings to be successful in the marketplace. A PESTLE analysis for Listo must consider all the important external factors impacting on the company. These factors may have political, economic, sociological, technological, legal or environmental dimensions. The political analysis must include the impact of local and national government, and the international situation.The Economic analysis needs to investigate the influences of the stock market and tax increases, amongst many other monetary matters. Sociological analysis is all about analyzing the backgroun d culture. Technological factors are usually easier to spot, because new technologies involve change, and change is always noticed. For instance, online shopping has had a major impact on Listo's recent success.The change created by technological advances often lead to legal problems, which is why legal analysis is always an important part of a PESTLE analysis. Listo's operations obviously have a significant environmental impact, from fossil fuel use to packaging issues. Reducing the demand on the planet is a challenge for any big company. A PESTLE Analysis for Listo must look at all the six factors we have mentioned. Here they are again, with examples of each: Political: an increase in unemployment due to a downward turn in the world economy. Economic: impact on sales of the credit crunch.Sociological: an increase in immigration from Eastern Europe resulting in a  demand for new goods. Technological: how can Listo take full advantage of the World Wide Web? Legal: how can Listo av oid legal opposition to expanding into new high streets? Environmental: – climate change is affecting supply and transport, how can Listo adapt? In summary, any PESTLE Analysis for Listo must consider all external factors if it has any hope of capturing the essence of the company.

Foreign Aid and the Development of African Nations

The African Nations, particularly those lying in the Sub-Saharan region have been subject to poverty, inadequate financial resources of their respective governments, lack of proper infrastructure and essential services like health, sanitation and water supply. These countries have also long been plagued by corrupt leaders, who have no concern about the sufferings of their citizens, despite growing their personal wealth based on the countries’ natural resources and foreign aid.Despite billions of dollars of foreign aid pouring in the region by countries like the United States, U.  K. , Germany and Japan there is no tangible change in the development of these countries. This paper will discuss the role of foreign aid in the development of the African Countries. Though, the common perception among the people is that the sub-Saharan Africa receives fairly large amount of foreign aid, but there is no proper outcome of it. They often complain that most of aid given to the African governments is consumed in non-development expenditures, or either is directly deposited in the overseas accounts of the rulers.But the fact is that the amount of aid given to these countries is never enough, particularly when considered the amount of development work done. Another problem is the method of distribution of the foreign aid, as there is very little amount, which is directly handed over to the African governments for their projects. Most of the aid is either in the form of technical support in which most of the aid is used in paying the officials of the aid giving country in exchange of their services. For e. g.the United States, which is considered as a major ODA, provider in the region does not spend, as she should have and as much resources she has. Most of the foreign aid provided by the United States is either in response to catastrophes like famine, earthquakes and tsunamis etc. , or in the form of emergency relief, like the U. S. wheat supply in cases of shortage of food supplies due to draught in many African countries. (Sachs, 82) On the other hand the actual amount of Official Development Assistance is far below as it is thought by many Americans.It is simply because large portion of ODA is disbursed primarily to the strategic nations like Iraq and Afghanistan. The remaining amount left for the non-strategic countries is then distributed either via NGOs or in the form of technical expertise and services. In both cases none of the amount is directly handed over to the recipient government. Thus the leftover of the ODA, which is directly handed over to the aid recipient nations, is significantly low. The same is the case of most donor nations like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Italy etc.The amount of aid actually handed over to these governments, which may help them to practically implement the public development projects like hospitals, schools, water supply and sanitation etc. (Sachs, 82) According to the 2003 U. S. gove rnment statistics regarding the ODA given by the United States to the sub-Saharan Africa, the total amount given was $4. 7 billion only. The sad story is that out of this huge amount only $118 million were directly handed over to African governments in order to support public development programs run by the government and communities.  (Sachs, 83)Therefore the given statistics regarding the U. S. aid depicts the inadequate amount of direct aid given to the African nations. Now speaking about the output and consequences of the foreign aid in the development of sub-Saharan African nations, the results are not encouraging. Partly because of inadequate amount of aid, ineffective method of aid distribution and disbursement, corrupt governments and leaders the outcome is not overall satisfactory regarding virtually the entire sub-Saharan region.The United States and other donor countries can shed their burden by using the United Nations as a platform of foreign assistance to the sub-Sah aran regions. (Tharoor) Kenya is a good example to analyze the role of foreign aid in the economic and public development of the country. Kenya had been among those countries, which have received huge external aid flows from the donor nations and institutions in order to foster economic growth and reduce poverty.But unfortunately the outcome has never been satisfactory as there is no major improvement in the economic growth of the country, neither there is any significant reduction in poverty or any tangible public development as an outcome of foreign aid. The country like other sub-Saharan African nations faces high indebtedness, unemployment and absolute poverty. The poor economic performance of the country has led to high dependency of Kenya on foreign aid. (Njeru, 1) The Kenyan development expenditures were slightly above 10% of the total government expenditures during the late 90s.This shows a development expenditure decline of about 50% from the 70s, which was just below 20% a t that time. Due to poor economic performance the government development budget has increasingly become dependent on donors. For e. g. in the 80s only 40% of the development expenditure depended on foreign aid, while in the next debate the dependence had raised to 70%. (Njeru, 6) This increasing dependence was the result of poor performance and using the local government resources on non-development expenditures.Most of funds disbursed by the donors is either in the form of appropriations-in-aid or revenue, the most common of which is appropriations-in-aid method. Using this method the donors have direct contact with the project coordinator, but there is a drawback of this method as the government loses control of these projects there is a big chance that they may become white elephants. (Njeru, 9) On the other hand, under the revenue system the funds are disbursed directly to the Treasury via special accounts in the central bank, but here are some other risks, like misuse of the fu nds because of weak accounting system at the Treasury.  (Njeru, 9)During the post-independence period Kenya receive heavy inflow of foreign aid particularly from the British. In the 70s and 80s there were high development activities in telecommunication networks, land settlement schemes, health and education sectors. During the 80s Kenya had enjoyed the highest level of foreign aid flow and there were about 600 active development projects in the above-mentioned sectors. (The Role of Foreign Aid in Development, 37)The major setback in the initial development progress was brought by former president Kenyatta and his successor Daniel arap Moi, as they not only backtracked the on going progress by making some unsound decisions like price control, marketing boards which soon adversely affected the prices and production incentive. Import substitution was also an important drawback, which resulted in poor economic condition and forced the government to stall many public development proje cts. (Erixon, 14) Corruption is also an important factor, which has led to the wastage of large amount of foreign aid.According to the Transparency International’s index of corruption Kenya was among the 10 most corrupted countries. According to TI the incidence of corruption is about 50% in most ministries, city councils, parastatals, SOEs and other governing bodies. (Erixon, 14) President Kenyatta’s regime was plagued by his so-called land reforms in the name of which he received large amount of foreign aid and subsequently became the largest landowner in the country. His alleged favor to his tribesmen and kinsmen, the Kikuyu, also resulted in mass corruption and loss of large amount of donor’s money.Using foreign aid to support their own kindred has become a norm in the Kenyan politics. (Cohen, 7) Presidents Moi’s regime is also marked by misuse of foreign aid in favor of the relative and political supporters. For e. g. the Kenyan government received $ 873 million in official development assistance in the fiscal year of 1991/92. All this aid was either on grant basis or loan basis and supported some 654 public development projects. These projects have about 2,000 sub-components, in order to give every ethnic group a fair price of the fund.Not surprisingly a large amount of the fund and project resources were not used accordingly. (Cohen, 13) Moreover the public developments on district level were also done on ethnic and political basis, as those areas where the residents are either the tribesmen of the president or loyal to him will receive a large sum of budget and public development programs, while those who oppose him like the Kikuyu, the people of the former president Kenyatta receive marginal amount of budget and public development funds. (Cohen, 16-17)President Moi’s government and leadership have been marked with more corruption and use of foreign aid on their own behalf. According to a Guardian report, President Moi , his associates and relatives have allegedly moved more than 1 billion pounds of government money to nearly 30 countries including Britain. Other relatives who have been involved in corruption of millions of dollars government money include Moi’s sons, which have moved 384m and 550m pounds respectively. (Rice) This report clearly depicts how ruthlessly these corrupt leaders have looted their country and fellow countrymen.The same is the character of NGOs in this regard, as most of the NGOs working in Kenya have their loyalties with one of the political parties or ethnic groups and they only work in their interest. Moreover those NGOs which are honest to their mission and objective face constraints and suppression from the government and they are only allowed to work according to the interest of the government officials, and their interest is always to do a favor to their kinsmen or political allies.In this way the people in real and dire need are often neglected, only becaus e they do not have enough political power or ethnic relation with the people in the office. Botswana is another case and a different story. The country has been the best example of good governance and leadership in the continent by far. It is the only country, which has been democratic in spiritually and practically throughout the entire post-independence period. The country has actively promoted the its’ citizens social and economic development throughout its post-colonial history.The country led by its founder Sir Seretse Khama and his successors were dedicated to deliberate democracy and market economy. Khama played an important role in developing a law-respecting political culture, which was wholeheartedly endured by his successors. (Rotberg) Though Botswana has received a heavy amount of foreign aid inflow the public development of the country in not based on that primarily. The main factor, which contributed in the country’s success, is its good governance and la ck of corruption.According to Transparency International Botswana is the least corrupted country in the African continent far better than many European and Asian countries. (Williams) Botswana has shown its capability of utilizing the amount of donors’ funds. Botswana has the strongest state institutions, professional civil services, strong planning systems and centralized aid management systems. All these have helped the country to utilize the funds wisely and accordingly with the minimum loss and misuse possible. The effective use of aid effectively contributes to the project plans, but also gave the country more control over the aid.This is in contrast to Kenya where the foreign aid froze twice due to poor compliance of the Kenyan government to the conditions of the donors. (Renzio, Whitfield & Bergamaschi, 1-4) After the independence Botswana was among the poorest countries of the world and there was lack of proper infrastructure and social and economic institutions. In t he initial post-independence period the country has used large amount of foreign aid, but the leadership was wise enough to use the foreign assistance in proper way.The government also preferred grants to loans and used diversified donors and also made a habit of refusing to accept aid when not necessary. (Togo, 3) The government wisely used foreign aid in not only developing the public sector like health, transportation, sanitation and water supply, but also used the chance to invest the aid heavily in the diamond mining industry which later boosted the country’s economy and help Botswana to overcome her dependence on foreign aid. (Togo, 4) But in the 90s the situation has changed and the new generation of leaders have emerged which are not willing to follow the path of Khama.They have allegedly used the government funds as their personal possessions acting double as the directors of private funds thus reserving these funds for the projects run by their firms. Furthermore in 1992 the credibility and respect of the Botswana government was further tarnished by the notorious Housing Corporation scandal in which the Vice president and other high-ranking officials were allegedly involved. (Togo, 5) Despite all these downfalls and shortcomings emerging in the new general of politicians, the country is still the least corrupt as compared to other African nations.According to recent studies Botswana has received the highest level of foreign aid up to 1980s, which has played a significant role in the development of the country. The foreign assistance had been as high as $200 per capita in 1980s. But the studies show that aid has only played siginificant role in public development in the early years of independence, when the country relied completely on the British aid for its expenditures. But in the next decade the ratio of aid had declined sharply, and the revenue from diamond mining far exceeded the aid. In the late 80s the share of aid fell to 3% of GDP fro m 29% in 1967.Therefore foreign assistance played significant role in the first two decades of the country history. (Togo, 6) The founder president of Botswana made his priority to secondary education in order to increase the proportion of the natives in the countries civil service and other comprehensive development projects, like mine development, construction of dams and irrigation. The government wanted to provide the natives jobs and reduce poverty. Thus they used the foreign aid initially to promote education and then focused on the infrastructure like roads, electric power and water supply, which will become the basis of the mining industry.(Togo, 8) The government than acquired $2. 5 million loan from the World Bank to finance the Shashe complex diamond-mining project. The government also won technical assistance from several developed countries. The foreign assistance acquired was largely used in the development of the infrastructure of the Shashe Complex project. Then the aid was used for the development of the human and physical capital. (Togo, 8)Thus Botswana used foreign assistance for the development of the human capital by promoting education and physical capital by developing the infrastructure.In this way one can easily conclude that foreign assistance played an important role in the development of the country in the first two decades. But when the case of Botswana is compared with that of Kenya, it becomes clear that foreign aid is not the sole factor in the success of a country. In the last four decades Kenya has received more foreign assistance than Botswana, but the country never became economical strong as Botswana did. The primary reason was the different in the vision and approach of the rulers of the two countries.The Kenyan first two rulers have been among the most corrupted and autocratic type of rulers and they have no interest in the welfare of their fellow citizens. They ruthlessly used the countries resources as personal possessi ons. On the other hand the Botswana founder president Khama and his successors have been honest to their country and fellow citizens and wisely used their country’s resources as well as the foreign assistance they had received to develop their country’s economy, public sector institutions and infrastructure. Therefore foreign aid has never been the primary factor in any country’s development.

Modelling a Frame Subjected to Multiple Loading Conditions Essay

In this experiment the main aim was to modelling a frame subjected to multiple loading conditions and record how the force and strain vary to different loads. The frame represented a simple roof trusses and the loading conditions are similar to what a typical roof would undergo. In this experiment a universal fame was used with load cells to provide the load and digital force and strain instruments to record the data. As the load was increased the strain went up linear showing a linear relationship between loading and strain. After analysing results it was found that the results for experimental forces compared to theoretical forces were very close showing that this experiment was very accurate, with very small uncertainty, the reason for this is due to very sensitive equipment as a change of 1 µ? is equivalent to change of 6 N (using young’s modulus) and other factors described in detail in the report. Table of Contents Summary 1 Introduction Pg 4 2 Theory Pg. 4 3. 1 Apparatus Pg 6 3. 2 Experimental procedures Pg 8 4 Observation and results Pg 8 4. 1 Results Pg8 4. 2 Observations Pg11 4. 3 Discussion Pg11 4. 4 Sources of error Pg11 5 Conclusions Pg12 References Pg13 Appendices Pg13 Introduction The aim of this laboratory was to carry out an experiment to measure the strain in members of a frame, where load was being applied in different loading conditions. This experiment was carried out to put to use the theory learnt in lectures and see how they actually perform in a real life model. By doing this it is possible to appreciate the limit of theoretical approach to these loading conditions and compare the errors. The model used in the experiment was that of an idealised roof truss, a roof must withstand a lot of force over a long time during its lifetime. Three 3 different loading scenarios will be modelled and the strain forces are expected to be within the range of the calculated theoretical forces. Main aims were: 1. Measure the strain in each member and record results 2. Calculate theoretical values for the experiment 3. Compare theoretical values with experimental results and calculate percentage error Theory In a frame model where there is a load being applied members of the frame will feel a compressive or tensional force. The value of the force can be worked out by resolving the forces in horizontal and vertical directions and taking moments. This is done by analysing each of the joints of Fig 1 separately. In a rigid static frame the sum of the vector forces add up to zero Fig 1 model of experiment The first loading model has is simulated with a load of 500N. First work out the value for the reaction force at the supports. Then use these values to calculate the tension in each member of the truss. Hand written theory in appendix (1) Apparatus The apparatus used in this experiment are by Tecquipment STR8 Pin-jointed Frameworks Digital force display -500N to 500 N Digital strain display- 1Ãâ€"10-9 ? Load cell – 0-500N range Screwdriver Experimental procedures Test 1 1. Calibrate the load reading instruments to measure zero on channel 1 on the digital load display, if the display shows load being applied then adjust the appropriate load cell W1 by rotating the appropriate knob. Test 2 1. Carefully remove the pin that is holding load W1 and reinstate load W2 2. When no load is being applied to the members check the digital strain display, there are 13 channels one for each gauge. Each gauge must be reading zero if not use adjust the reading to read zero as close by using a small screw driver. 3. Make sure the load cell W2 does not interfere with the frame. 4. In table 1 record the strain values of each member from the digital strain display. 5. Next apply a load of 100N to the load cell W1 by turning the handle anti clockwise then read the digital strain display for channels 1 to13 and record in the table. 6. Repeat steps 5 for loads 200N, 300N, 400N and 500N 7. After recording all values reduce the load to zero by rotating clockwise. 8. Using the values of strain for 500N load calculate their equivalent member forces and record them in table 3 using the following equations : Test 3 1. For this model both load cells must be loaded on to the frame 2. In table record the strain values of each member from the digital strain display when no load is being applied 3. Next apply a load of 500N to the load cell W1 by turning the handle anti clockwise then read the digital strain display for channels 1 to13 and record in the table. 4. Switching to channel 2 on the digital force display apply a load of 100N then read the digital strain display for channels 1 to13 and record in the table 5. Repeat steps 4 for loads 200N, 300N, 400N and 500N on load cell W2 6. After recording all values reduce the load to zero by rotating clockwise. 7. Using the values of strain for 500N load calculate their equivalent member forces How to use the strain to convert into force is described in the appendix (2) 4. Results and observations 4. 1 Results CENTRAL LOADING Angled loading Multiple loading The sum of experimental forces for loading of 500 N in loading 1 and 2 4. 2 Observation Allow the equipment to stabilise by waiting 5 minutes in order to eliminate and uncertainty due to heat affecting resistance values. There are no significant health and safety risks in this experiment. 4. 3Discussion A way in which to improve the results of the experiment would be to take repeat readings of the strain for each gauge at least three times in order to eliminate any anomalous results. Another addition would be having different loading conditions on the frame and see how they affect the two gauges EF and IJ as they experience any strain which could lead to the question are these members required and do they make any difference. In loading condition 3 by having 2 load cells you create a model where there are members which are superimposed. When analysing table 8 and looking at the sum of the experimental values are larger than the theoretical value, when looking at member AH the values are notably are different when superimposed. 4. 4 sources of error The main sources of uncertainty will come from the calibration of the device as the digital strain reading instrument has an accuracy of  ± 0. 5Ãâ€"10-10 ? and the digital force display has an accuracy of 0. 5 N. These are very small values; it is difficult to zero the strain display which lead to a poor accuracy. The strain values is calculated by the change in resistance of the wire when it is under tension or compression, however change in temperature would affect the length of the wire therefore giving a different value of resistance leading to inaccurate strain reading. 5. Conclusion After analysing the results in detail it is shown that the difference in theoretical and experimental results is not significantly different and therefore using the theory of resolving forces it is possible to gain an accurate value of true member forces and equally important to simulate and model the situation in real life scenario to gain a true understanding of what is going on. Also analysing table 3 shows that is also possible to calculate the force on a complex load by adding the forces individually. References Mechanics structures and thermo dynamics –university of Warwick Mechanics lectures by Dr. T. Karavasilis http://www. tecquipment. com/Datasheets/STR8_0213. pdf 29/12/2013 Appendices Pin jointed lab briefing sheets Theory (1. ) (2). Stress strain thoery

Dells Marketing Case, Dillema

How would you describe Dell's current distinctive competencies? What other potential sources of distinctive competency might Dell work to develop? Answer: According to the case, Dell's Current distinctive competencies are: ; â€Å"Mass customization†; by focusing on this strategy (which they followed as their core differentiation strategy), Dell has successfully been able to transform the way consumers shop for technology. Customer could place customized orders for their PC's according to their unique needs and wants.Which at that time seemed to be a very attractive, innovative and hence successful strategy. However while concentrating too much on its distinctive strategy of mass customization for too long, Dell gravely failed to adapt to the changing world of technology which opportunity was promptly grabbed by its current and emerging competitors like HP, Sony, Leaner, Apple and others. They quickly managed to reap the benefits of the fast growing market for technological p roducts like PC's and notebooks. Direct Sales Channel- Dell has proved to be extremely successful at coming up with a very efficient and smart supply chain, by making Its customers able to place orders for their PC's online, wrought e commerce. Dell used direct sales via Internet, whereas traditional PC manufacturers previously assembled PC's to make them ready for purchase at retail stores. Thus, Dell enjoyed early-to-market advantage. This eliminated the need for retailers that would add unnecessary time and cost for Dell and Dell has enjoyed this competency for a pro-longed period of time. Dell's cost efficiency: Dell was able to provide PC's at a low cost for quite a period of time, until paying a low price for a standard PC was no more attracting the potential customers who were rather lured y the more technologically advanced products offered by Dell's competitors like Hewlett-Packard. However continuing with its cost cutting strategy cost them their customers in later years w hen HP emerged as the market leader and attracted all the consumers and business clients to themselves.Moreover, Dell's extremely efficient supply chain management aided In keeping Its costs low and hence being cost effective. Dell's strong market position due to its strong brand value as one of the top 100 brands In the world (In the IT systems market), provided It with a competitive advantage. Dell has a strong market presence in IT systems market. Despite losing market share to other players in the recent past, Dell continues to remain a strong player in the IT systems market.In the fast growing market for technological products Dell should have obviously gone for innovating their product lines. Dell should go for product development. It might work to launch faster and more attractive versions of PC's and laptops. Most Importantly Its marketing strategy should be changed, In order to reap benefits from Its distinctive competencies. Being Innovative could have obviously paid off a s a good extinctive competency, because then competitors like HP and Apple would get as much opportunity to grab the market share.Moreover, Dell could go for making ‘OFF silent changes In Its organizational culture Day encouraging Its employees to De more creative and to think out of the box so as to get rid of the monotonous feeling in them which would also enhance the productivity and would obviously spread a good word of mouth regarding Dell as a â€Å"ready to innovate and serve company', which would work as another great distinctive competency. Question 2) Dell is currently engaged in a cost leadership strategy. If Dell decided to move more toward a differentiation strategy, what might be some sources of differentiation Dell could explore?Answer 2: Emphasizing on the cost leadership strategy for too long has caused Dell to lose it market share and not to mention has lead it to earning lower profits. That's because the same strategy would not work forever. Dell has not ex plored in serving their customers with variety in their offerings for PC's and notebooks, neither did it do much to upgrade its features and technology. Dell has not re-invested any of its profits into going for a different racketing strategy other than cost leadership.A differentiation strategy incorporates the development of a product or service so that it can offer a customer perceived uniqueness in the marketplace that seems to be better than or different from the products of the competition. Dell has to focus more on providing additional value for their customers if they want to differentiate their brand form the others in the market, to do so, they have to address their customers not yet raised demand for new technology say for example, delight their customers by offering new software and applications for their PC's.Dell can also go for sales promotion; that is they can provide short term offers where they would be providing free upgrades for software in their current customer s' PC's and offer discounts on certain software Just so as to attract their customers' lost interest. Launching and promoting different complimentary products made by Dell can be a good idea to enhance the sales of Dell PC's.For instance if Dell came up with a product line for gaming computers, to attract a certain segment of its potential clients, and along with that if it issued games made by Dell one of which would be provided for free with the gaming PC's, it loud be a great way of differentiating their brand as â€Å"innovative† in the mind of customer, especially since no other competitor at that time came up with gaming PC'S. Question 3: According to Nations Product-Market expansion grid which strategy is applicable for Dell computer's offerings?Explain the strategy in your own words in the context of the case. Answer 3: Nations model is based upon four types of strategies which are; market penetration strategy, market development strategy, product development strategy and diversification strategy. The diagram below illustrates the Nations Product-Market expansion grid. In my opinion, Dell should primarily go for product development strategy and then market development strategy. By going for product development strategy, Dell would be issuing new, developed and modified versions of its products.By doing so, Dell can show it to the industry that they are all ready to launch innovative products and solutions for their clients both Business and consumer. Moreover given the strong and well established brand name Dell has, it would not be a problem to beat its competitors Like HP, IT Dell can offer new Ana developed products to Its customers. For example by considering software as an product/service to offer, Dell can assemble a services portfolio that would include e-mail disaster recovery, spam/virus filtering and archiving via its Message acquisition.Moreover Dell can come up new models of its PC, and notebook, more lighter ones, faster ones, PC's specially made for gaming, and PC's which are specially made lighter and smaller for office going executives and students. Just like Google developed a new browser Chrome for the existing Internet user. Going for a market penetration strategy would be bad session for Dell since it has proved to be a failure Just because it refused to be innovative about its products and was only focusing on a single strategy of â€Å"mass customization†.However, Dell can also go for a market development strategy if that is feasible giving the transportation and set up costs associated with setting up business and dealerships in developing countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, or it can focus on a different demography, like the elderly people; by creating easy to use and simple light laptops for them, which they can also afford with a little portion of their savings.

Styles of Communication and Conflict Resolution Research Paper

Styles of Communication and Conflict Resolution - Research Paper Example To avert conflicts and optimize on their potential to deal with the problematic situations in the best possible manner in an organizational setting, it is imperative that both managers and team members are aware of the various styles of communication. The fundamental requisite of avoidance of conflicts everywhere in general and workplace in particular is to have empathy for the other people’s perspectives. People who believe that they are neither superior nor inferior to their colleagues at the workplace are able to keep their interactions free of negative influences. This paper explores different styles of communication and discusses the secrets of effective communication which is the fundamental prerequisite of conflict resolution. Continuums of Communication Styles According to M. R. Hammer, there are two continuums along which the communication styles about conflict lie. The first continuum is about the way people express their disagreements. In the indirect style, people tend to give other people clues about their opinions, and try to elaborate them with the help of metaphors or stories. This is called as the indirect style. The direct style lies at the opposite end of the very continuum. In the direct style, people overtly express their views so that the other person exactly knows what the point of concern is. There is a lot of difference between the body language of the direct and the indirect speaker (Hammer, 2005). While the indirect speaker tends to make use of subtle messages, the direct speaker confronts the other person by looking into the eyes. The second continuum is the continuum of expressiveness. Certain people express their emotions very overtly. These people are known as extroverted. They have very expressive faces as well as body language. People that lie at the opposite end of the continuum of expressiveness generally remain quiet, and are very introverted. They are very reserved, and do not feel comfortable or like to share their v iews with others, particularly to an unfamiliar group of people. Styles of Communication There are several styles of communication (CEDA, n.d.) which include but are not limited to accommodation style, discussion style, dynamic style, and engagement style. The different styles of communication emerge from different combinations of the levels of disagreement and expressiveness. They are discussed below: Accommodation Style People who have the accommodation style of communication are generally introverted, and want to control their emotions. They make effort to save the relationship from being tarnished by conflicts by using metaphors and such other techniques. Discussion Style People having a discussion style of communication generally control their emotions, but do convey their disagreement to the other person in clear words and understandable manner. To add weight to their opinions, they make use of objective facts. Dynamic Style People that have a dynamic style of communication op enly express their distress, though they tend not to talk about the underlying cause of distress overtly. The argument structure in the dynamic style of communication is associative, and mediators are required to facilitate the discussion. Engagement Style People that have an engagement style of communication express their feelings freely. Passion reflects in their